Common sense and basic human decency require Terri be given back to her parents

The lack of support from Florida's Bishops is a travesty (double click to enlarge)

Terri's parents have offered all their worldly wealth to Michael Schiavo as a bounty for Terri's life

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush

What did Thomas Jefferson do when his rights were denied? He launched a revolution that changed the world.

The case of Terri Schiavo has generated enormous controversy. Her case has elicited a response from the Vatican and the direct intervention of Jeb Bush, the governor of Florida.

Pope John Paul II emphasized the evil of euthanasia last year, and insisted that the sick, like all other human beings, should be accorded care and treatment that respects the fundamental dignity of all human beings. Allowing the sick and helpless to die without care is contrary to every message Christ left us with, specifically, that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us, and the neglect we show the most helpless humans, so we do to Christ Himself.

In a remarkable last minute effort, Gov. Bush and the Florida general assembly pushed through laws mandating that Terri Schiavo's feeding tube be replaced during a week of political turmoil in which Terri's feeding tube had been removed, and she slid towards certain death. These laws were challenged and negated by the courts, in effect clearing the way for Terri Schiavo to be murdered before our very eyes. The muscle of the state will be there to see that the beastly and grizzly death is uninterrupted by pesky elected officials or overly sympathetic Christian fanatics.

For Christian America, Terri's cause has become battle cry. The failure of this nation's culture and legal system to spare her is an unspeakable tragedy

It's remarkable that Terri's husband would be so hell-bent to let his wife die such a hideous death. It is well know that he has been involved with another woman, and has children with her. Doctors examining Terri at the time of her stroke suggested that she showed signs of abuse. Terri is not in a "vegetative state" as the media has consistently mischaracterized: she responds to family members, vocalizes discomfort, and responds to therapy. Unfortunately, throughout the years of her recovery, Michael Schiavo has acted to limit, and even deny therapy for Terri that would lead to her recovery. Insurance proceeds and movie rights will all default to Michael Schiavo upon Terri's death. Schiavo's obsession with seeing his wife killed, especially when her parents have offered to assume all responsibility for her care, is bizarre and unexplainable.

Terri Schiavo's parents, the Schindlers, recently offered to give Michael Schaivo all movie rights, insurance proceeds, and in effect everything they own personally, in exchange for their daughter's life. Through his attorney, Michael Schiavo has indicated that Terri Schiavo has a "right to die."

Really? By whose hand, Mr. Schiavo? Certainly not her own. Suicide is illegal in all 50 states for obvious reasons. The withholding of care from the sick is a decision that is made only after all reasonable levels of care have been exhausted, or if the individual themselves authorizes that care to be withheld through their own decision, with witnesses or properly documented through their will.

Terri Schiavo made no such stipulations to be allowed to die. She is a Roman Catholic, and were she able to sit and say so, would tell the world that if anyone should decide her fate, it ought to be Pope John Paul II, not a heartless profiteer seeking to shuck the burdens of caring for the sick, and too gutless and cruel to accept the pleas of Terri's parents to spare their daughter's life.

In spite of the mountain of evidence that would inspire defense of Terri's rights to live, she has been abandoned by the very court system that was established 200 years ago to protect her.

Michael Schiavo and his attorney's may have been granted the ability by the secular authorities to proceed with their gruesome execution of Terri Schaivo. I predict there will be hell to pay.

We live in a nation that was founded on the principles that every citizen has been endowed by their Creator with the rights of life, liberty and to the pursuit of happiness. These laws are self-evident. That is, we don't need to explain them to anyone. Just as the sun rises in the morning, and a fallen plate breaks when it hits to floor, God has mandated that life and liberty are nonnegotiable, and by implication, that when questions arise over the course of human lives, we must default to saving a life rather than taking it.

This is not rocket science. Common sense and basic human decency require Terri be given back to her parents. For the diabolically minded - like Michael Schiavo and his twisted attorneys - mercy, charity and human dignity mean nothing when money, or perhaps even more sinister motives, are involved.

When Terri Schiavo is put to death, a brain damaged woman will not be the only casualty. As Americans, we will be entering a new chapter of our nation's tragic decline, one in which the truths we once held to be self-evident are no longer even relevant.

For every American, that is a fate worse than death.

###

See terrisfight.org for more information, or select EUTHANASIA from the ISSUES pull down menu above for more stories at this web site.

E-mail this article to a friend | Printer friendly format